


Welcome to the Jungle

by Kayim



Category: Primeval
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-18
Updated: 2012-03-18
Packaged: 2017-11-02 03:24:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/364446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayim/pseuds/Kayim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>12 year old Taylor Craig isn't 12 years old anymore.  And she's ready to take up the job that Nick Cutter promised her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Jungle

**Author's Note:**

> Set after season 5, so spoilers for everything that has aired. Taylor Craig was first seen in episode 2.5.

With the existence of the anomalies having gone public, Lester received about thirty job application letters and CVs a day. Sorting through them was almost full-time job in itself, and yet Lester still insisted on doing it himself. There had been too many mistakes made in the past that he wasn't prepared to repeat, and if the eyes of the whole damn world were going to be on the ARC teams from now on, he wanted to be sure in who he was employing.

He had to admit though that there weren't many of those applicants who managed to charm their way into the secure car park and sit on the front of his Jaguar to wait for him.

"If there is not a very good reason you are sitting on my pride and joy, and if you don't not explain yourself in ten words or less, I will shoot you myself," he stated calmly, his eyes locked on the young woman.

She was young, maybe 17 or 18, he guessed, with long dark hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore combat pants, a black t-shirt, Doc Martens and had a rucksack clutched tightly in her hand, as though it contained all of her worldly possessions.

She jumped off the car, sticking her hand out awkwardly in front of her. "Taylor Craig," she said by way of introduction. 

Lester shook his head, refusing the offered hand. He had no idea who she was, and in all honesty was more concerned about who the hell let her in than he was about what she actually wanted. He glanced at his watch and slipped his hand into his pocket to retrieve his phone.

"I want to come and work with you." 

She seemed unfazed by the way Lester strode past her to check for scratches or dents on his beloved car. It had only just survived a raptor attack a few months earlier and he was certainly not going to allow some child to damage it now.

"Nick Cutter said I could."

Lester's hand froze on the bonnet of the car and he turned around. Cutter's name had been kept out of as many records as possible when the ARC project went public. There were still too many unanswered questions about Helen Cutter's behaviour that might lead to investigators digging in places he wasn't prepared for them to go.

"And that other guy. The pretty one with the blue eyes."

Stephen Hart. The description was certainly apt, if vague, he thought. Suddenly, a case file flashed into his mind. Taylor Craig. Twelve year old girl who went through an anomaly to the Silurian. Saved by Cutter and Hart. Or she saved them, he was never quite sure which.

"Now you remember me," the girl, Taylor, smirked at him, wearing an expression that reminded him far too much of Cutter.

Wiping away a patch of imaginary dirt from his car, Lester offered her his best Home Office placebo smile. "Miss Craig. While I appreciate your history with certain past-members of our team –"

"Past members?" she interrupted. "Have they left?"

One disadvantage to keeping the news of Cutter and Hart's deaths out of the public reports was that Lester ended up having to be the one who broke the news to people. Forcing the nightmarish incidents from his mind, Lester recited the same bland line that he had used too many times. "Both Professor Cutter and Stephen Hart were killed in the line of duty several years ago."

He watched as Taylor's face fell, the cocky grin replaced by a lost-puppy look. She stumbled backwards a few steps, until her back hit the concrete wall of the car park. "They died?" Her voice quivered for the first time, confidence shattered by the revelation.

Lester nodded briefly, unwilling to discuss the details, less for security reasons than due to his own painful memories. 

"As I was saying, despite your history, we are not in the habit of employing children with no relevant skills or experience. Thank you for your time. I'll call for security to escort you out."

"No," she snapped back, straightening up, the Cutter-like mask slipping back onto her face. "If they're both dead then you need me even more."

Lester raised an eyebrow. 

"Since the day I met them, I've been working towards getting a job here. I studied as much geology and physics as I could at school, and then got my step-dad to sign up for a distance learning degree so I could learn more. I joined the Army Cadets so I could get field experience, and it was the only legitimate way I could learn to handle a weapon. I've read every book published on palaeontology, as well as a few that haven't been published, but I still managed to get my hands on them. I turn eighteen tomorrow, so I'll no longer legally be a kid, and, not that it matters, but I have the full support of my step-dad to do this."

She looked at him as her tirade faded off, her eyes wide. She was breathing hard, as though she'd exhausted herself with the explanation, and she'd stepped towards him as she spoke, getting close enough that he could see the way she chewed on her bottom lip when she ran out of words.

She wasn't much younger than Jess, Lester realised, and if what she was saying was true, she had a lot more to offer than 99% of the applicants he'd seen so far. He thought back to the reports that Cutter and Hart had given, remembering the way both men had spoken about her. Cutter's report had actually come to him with a post-it note attached saying _This girl could be good_.

Praying he wasn't about to make the biggest mistake of his career since allowing Oliver Leek to set foot in his office, Lester stepped towards her, this time offering his hand to her.

She hesitated for a moment, before gripping his hand tightly, a wide smile on her face. He pretended not to notice the glistening in the corners of her eyes. It wouldn't do for another one of his team members to be quite so emotional – he had more than enough of that already.

"Report to the main gate at 8am tomorrow," he told her as he pried his fingers from her grasp. "And try not to be late, Miss Craig."


End file.
